Chapter 86: Mikoto: I Can't Tell, Who Is the Real Monster!
Liam ignored the young woman's dazed and astonished gaze. To prevent the situation from worsening, he once again raised his sword and swung, and the erupting slash easily dealt with the monster.
「Exp +239」
He found that familiar feeling!
When he first explored the Dungeon, he had encountered a Minotaur on the 5th floor.
The experience points gained after killing it were quite substantial. Now, as he looked around, the vast number of monsters before him made even Liam momentarily dazed.
"Holy crap, so many Minotaurs!"
As far as the eye could see.
In the spacious cave passage, there was an extremely vast number of Minotaurs. Their numbers didn't reach the level of a "Monster Party."
But after all, these Minotaurs all had ability scores equivalent to Lv2 adventurers…
This large-scale gathering of Minotaurs was supposed to be during the "Loki" Familia's return journey, but he had encountered it not long after.
Analyzing it objectively, Liam felt this battle was countless times trickier than he had anticipated. However, he didn't feel a sense of pressure.
On the contrary, facing such a vast number of monsters, he felt an extremely strong sense of anticipation!
"Experience packs."
"Take care of yourself. Leave the rest of the battle to me."
Liam's hands were itching for a fight. He released the white demonic hand wrapped around the young woman's waist. The tactile sensation was hardly worth mentioning. He then drew his weapon with his left hand.
Craving an exhilarating battle that could baptize his own ability scores…
"I want to fight too!"
Using a handkerchief she carried, she simply wiped the blood from her face. Mikoto drew her tachi and held it with both hands, her eyes filled with determination.
Last night's spar had made her realize… the gap in their convictions.
As for him saving her, she hadn't had time to think about it yet. The most crucial thing at present was to escape this dangerous situation.
Noticing Liam's expressionless look, Mikoto felt an inexplicable sense of awkwardness and quickly added, "Thank you very much for your guidance last night, Liam."
"So I want to change!"
Of course, a large part of the reason was that Mikoto didn't want Liam to be put in a dangerous situation because he had saved her.
This reason would be silently hidden in the deepest part of her heart.
"…"
"Um?"
The young woman's sincere feelings, however, received no feedback from Liam. Looking at Liam's back as he faced the Minotaur herd alone.
For some reason, she always felt that the speed of the battle was noticeably increasing?
The most crucial aspect of a "Sword Soul's" main combat style was their own self-less sword aura, which was constantly comprehended during battle.
This was what Liam had to do: to master this special power that belonged to him. The Minotaurs before him were opponents whose intelligence was well understood.
Their powerful physical constitution, the experience points they provided, and their attack methods posed no threat.
They were his best training dummies!
The words Mikoto said to him were undoubtedly an obstacle on his path forward. But he couldn't just directly say, "Please let me monopolize the experience points," could he?
There wasn't much he could do but speed up!
His body maintained its peak state. Knowing this was an exhilarating trial for his ability scores, he activated the "Warlord's Fervor" magic effect.
He proactively enabled the "Flowing Stance" skill.
His aura changed in a short time. The foundation laid by his physical ability scores, when fighting without holding back, its effect was maximized.
Liam stepped forward, three consecutive slashes dashing him forward. The sword aura slashes he swung directly tore through the Minotaurs' thick bodies!
Hitting vital points, the monsters instantly dissolved into gray dust.
"Still a bit slow…"
Pursuing a speedrun effect, after stabilizing his figure, facing the attack of a Minotaur from his front-side, he didn't choose to backstep to dodge.
He crossed his swords, and with a flash of light, a wide-ranging sword aura slash, a weakened version of "Drawing Sword" that he had manually inputted, swept towards the monsters within his line of sight.
The continuously stacking "Warlord's Fervor" effect, and the impact of the adrenaline surge, made Liam ignore the drain on his physical and mental energy.
"Only this kind of trial can have an effect on improving my ability scores…"
Liam only needed to consider how to fight. And from Mikoto's perspective as a spectator, there were many more things to consider. Even the young woman's eyes gradually became dazed.
From the sparring process, she could clearly feel Liam's courageous pursuit of the way of the sword. Facing such a vast number of Minotaurs.
He would still choose to fight. This was also what she lacked.
"So... during last night's spar, Liam still wasn't using his full strength?"
"Just how big is the gap!!"
An endless stream of combat techniques, facing a vast number of Minotaurs.
He utilized his body's agility advantage, dodging monster attacks while taking advantage of openings to deal with targets with the most crisp and decisive sword skills.
What truly shocked Mikoto was the sword aura slash, visibly attached with flowing light!
He didn't even need to touch the Minotaurs to easily tear them apart.
"Swordsmanship…"
"How on earth does he do it?"
Confusion appeared in the young woman's heart, but it was more of an inexplicable, complex emotion.
She could finally understand why Liam had insisted on using a tree branch for their spar. If he had used a weapon, her own outcome…
Would probably be no different from these slaughtered monsters, right?
Sensing the Minotaurs' roars, and Mikoto, who had said she wanted to find monsters for training – a bad premonition enveloped Kashima.
"Big trouble!"
There was no way to find his companion, and Liam had left very quickly.
He simply hadn't been given time to react. He wanted to provide support but was concerned for the safety of the team's supporter. He could only place all his hopes on Liam.
He quickened his pace as much as possible.
Passing through the passage, when he finally found Mikoto's trace, her blood-soaked appearance made Kashima's heart sink completely.
"Mikoto!"
"Captain, I'm fine…" When the young woman turned to look at Kashima, she shook her head lightly, her mood not particularly tense.
"That's good!"
Before embarking on the supportive Familia expedition, Kashima had already told Takemikazuchi that he would take care of the other members' safety.
After repeatedly confirming that Yamato Mikoto was fine, he finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
But when Kashima looked around and didn't find Liam's figure, especially when he noticed the sense of loss on Mikoto's face.
His mood tensed up again. Now that they were acquainted, and moreover, Liam was in this situation because he had saved Yamato Mikoto… no matter how dangerous, he had to provide rescue!
"Where's Liam?"
"...Um, over there." The smile on the young woman's face was a bit bitter as she cast her gaze into the distance ahead.
Looking in that direction, the scene that entered his eyes was one Kashima would never forget for the rest of his life. The still numerous Minotaur monsters.
Were already in a state of rout, fleeing in all directions, with Liam chasing after them.
His expression was stiff at this moment, and he stammered, "This is…"
"I'm also very curious."
Yamato Mikoto was silent for a long while. Finally, gathering her complex emotions, she forced a smile and said, "Sometimes I really can't tell…"
"Who is the real monster."
Although it was hard to admit.
But before meeting Liam, when their Familia explored the Dungeon, most of the time, they were the ones being chased by this group of monsters…
(End of this chapter)
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